No Promises To Keep
by Merrypaws
Summary: She was determined to see him only as a monster to destroy. Until she was forced to stop and really look at him. Repton/Starling through a series of little moments.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N:My first fic for the Storm Hawks fandom. And it's for a pairing that's just Utter Crack. Namely, Repton/Starling. *sweats a little*  
_

_This thing... just came to me the other day. I don't even know what I was aiming at when I sat down, but some hours later, I've got some 2000+ words written down. I believe the main idea was to explore how these two could develop a relationship while staying even remotely within character without dragging the whole thing out into million pages of angst. There might be a second chapter to this, if I get some encouraging reviews. *hint hint*_

* * *

Starling's eyes fluttered open. The world was a kaleidoscope of sound and color around her. It took a moment for her senses to reacquaint themselves with the reality. She became aware of pain. Thankfully not the sharp pain of serious injuries, her battle-sharpened mind supplied, but the dull throb of bruises. The gritty texture against her side identified itself as the ground.

Sounds still echoed and slurred together inside her head, and the light and movement sent stabs of pain right into her optical nerves, so she curled up, closing her eyes and weakly covering her head with her arms as she tried to get back on her mental feet.

She had been racing after some Talon before…what?

It took a moment for the memories to align themselves. A flash of light, the ground exploding only few feet to her right, the sickening lurch in the pit of her stomach as she was thrown off her skimmer at full speed on ground level.

She supposed she should've been glad to be alive.

From the sound of crystal blasts and roar of engines somewhere beyond her field of vision, the battle was still going strong. Either no one had noticed her near miss in all the commotion, or they had been too busy to bother with her once she wasn't contributing to the fight anymore.

The light was suddenly blocked. She tried to lift her head, but even that small effort sent her head spinning again. There was dust in the air now, and it made her eyes sting, but she could still make out a shadow looming over her. A creak of leather, a grind of metallic armor plates and the shadow leaned closer. A shape that might have been a hand reached towards her and she felt a touch on her neck. Checking for pulse?

She drew breath to speak, but the sudden inhalation filled her throat with dust, and forced her to cough spasmodically. The shadow drew back and suddenly she noticed it: glint of copper and bony spikes near the shoulders, yellow eyes with slit pupils against greenish skin.

Repton.

With a strangled whimper she tries to will her body to move, but her muscles burn and her head spins just from trying to hold her head up. This was it. The end.

Then, inexplicably, the raptor moves away.

She lies there, frozen, as the sound of an engine starts nearby and then fades, just as the sound of several more engines approaches from the other direction and a voice calls her name.

Saved.

* * *

Starling adjusted the binoculars over her eyes. She had managed to locate one of the Cyclonians' mobile bases, only a short distance away from Terra Rex, of all places! Apparently they had managed to find out the Rex Guardians' patrol schedules, and moved the base to always stay out of sight, trusting the traditionalist Sky Knights not to deviate from their regular routes.

Which was, she had to admit, a rather safe bet.

She turned, surveying more of the camp, and her breath caught as a large raptor with a crate the size of a human being on his shoulder came into view. On the big one's heels trotted another one, much smaller and loaded with an assortment of smaller boxes.

She felt something coiling tightly inside of her. Because where there were any of the raptors, there usually was also…

_No, don't go there. _She shook herself, turning away from the sight that spread below her. This was no time or place for those thoughts. She took a deep breath and held it to calm herself. There were a good two dozen of the Cyclonians, and only one of her. Cyclonians that knew they were within enemy territory, and therefore were on their guard and armed to the teeth. If she got herself all worked up, it was all too easy to lose her head and do something she'd regret later.

Her resolve reaffirmed, she lifted the binoculars again. While she had been steadying herself, the two raptors apparently had gotten into an argument with one of the Talons. As she watched, the human showed the smaller raptor, causing him to fall down and the boxes he had been carrying to spill on the ground. The scrawny lizard was back on his feet in a flash, and was shaking a fist in the man's face, when the Talon simply backhanded him, making the small raptor crumble to the ground.

Starling bristled as she watched how the man laughed at the stunned lizard runt, but suddenly, he was hit from behind by an unseen force, that made him fall face down into the dirt right in front of his victim. Before either the Talon or the watching Sky Knight got over their shock, Repton himself stormed into view and hauled the unfortunate man up by the front of his uniform. Starling couldn't begin to imagine what the raptor commander might have had to say, but even from the distance she could see the man turning paler by every word that the raptor snarled into his face before unceremoniously dropping him. As the unfortunate Talon scampered away, Repton turned to regard his brothers, who both were grinning at him. Then he proceeded to cuff the small one over the head, and then pointed to the boxes on the ground and the crate on the bigger raptor's shoulder and then to the direction where the two had been heading earlier, apparently barking orders.

As the two raptors scampered to obey, Starling lowered her binoculars again, feeling a little stunned. She knew that the raptors that served as one of Cyclonia's top squadrons were brothers, and so would most likely be looking out for one another, but still seeing Repton of all people acting so protectively was…odd, to say the least.

* * *

Dark Ace was walking along the row of captive civilians, giving his speech about the Cyclonian supremacy and the futility of resistance and all the other standard propaganda. Starling had tuned him out after the first sentence. She glanced to the side, at the Sky Knight squadron of this terra, who were all chained beside her, overpowered and captured like her, despite her best efforts to assist them. She cursed silently at whatever stroke of luck had caused the terra's radar station to malfunction and let the Cyclonians to sneak up on them.

Then she glanced to the other side, at a figure who she held as much more deserving of her loathing than the black haired man strutting in front of his prisoners – and blinked in surprise.

Repton was standing in the sidelines, a few steps away from Ravess and Snipe, who were grinning to themselves as they watched the proceedings. But while the other two Talon Leaders were watching their captives, radiating smug triumph, the raptor was regarding the Talon Commander solidly, his expression dripping with disdain.

As she watched, his face twisted into an all out sneer of disgust, and quickly glancing the other way, she saw that Dark Ace had actually brought out his sword and was now holding it to some young civilian's throat, just to make a point. Her own face twisted into a mirroring scowl as she turned back to look at the raptor commander – only to find herself looking right into yellow eyes that were staring straight at her.

She lifted her chin proudly, not wanting to show any weakness in front of her enemy, but much to her surprise, Repton didn't react in any way. After a moment of holding her gaze, he jerked his head toward the Commander and rolled his eyes. She blinked, confused, and the raptor just jerked his head at Dark Ace again. She turned towards the black haired man again. He had now moved further along the line of prisoners, but the boy he had threatened before was visibly shaken and leaning against the man next to him. Starling's eyes widened as the realization hit her.

The boy had red hair.

She whipped around to look at the raptor again, who's mouth quirked in a smirk as he read the understanding in her face.

_I know you saw that._

Shakily, almost reluctantly she answered with a smirk and an eye roll of her own.

_He may be many things, but subtle isn't one of them._

Repton smirked again before turning to Snipe and Ravess and saying something before walking away, the rest of his squadron following. But as he was leaving, he caught Starling's eye one more time over his shoulder, then glanced somewhere over her head, to the cliff behind her, before disappearing from sight.

Confused, she risked peeking over her shoulder, and nearly gasped as she spotted a shadow moving on top of the cliff. She quickly turned to face forward again, and schooled her face into neutrality. Help was coming.

And she had a feeling that the raptors would be mysteriously absent from the following skirmish.

* * *

Starling swung her energy nunchucks at the raptor's head, growling as he narrowly dodged the blow. He answered by sending his boomerang flying, carving a great swath into the undergrowth around them. The lone Sky Knight ducked left, then reversed her direction as the boomerang arched through the air and back into its wielder's hand.

She lunged forward again, and their weapons struck together in a flash of crystal energy. She bared her teeth in a snarl as she glared at her hated enemy. Her muscles trembled with the effort of pushing back against his greater strength, but she couldn't give up. Her squadron could not go unavenged!

"You will pay for what you've done, you monster!" she grunted from between her teeth. "I will kill you!"

"And then what?"

The unexpected question threw her off long enough for Repton to gain a better footing and shove her backwards. She fell, rolled, and got back on her feet just in time to block the next swing.

"You will kill me and then what?" the raptor snarled again, throwing his leg forwards in a sweep that would have downed a less experienced fighter. Even Starling, as familiar as she was with Repton's technique, only barely managed to leap out of the way.

"Will my blood really appease you? Will it erase all the misery out of your life?" the force of his boomerang striking her nunchucks sent tingles up her arms.

"Or will you need to find a new target? Are you going to take on the Cyclonians after that? Or maybe pirates?" he demanded.

Starling found herself scrambling just to keep up as the raptor bore on like a man possessed. She raised her arms to block a swing, but that only let an opening for the raptor to deliver a kick to her middle and send her flying across the clearing. She coughed, trying to catch her breath, as he stalked forward.

"And once you've killed you fill, can you still return to the life at peace? Will you still be regarded as a hero by the people you've saved? Or will they only see the blood you've stained yourself with?"

She stared at him, struck dumb. This was the most eloquent she had even seen the lizard man. But what threw her off even more was that he didn't move to strike in the sudden lull. He simply glared down at her, challenging, awaiting for an answer. In her confusion, all the things he had said started to sink into her mind, and a nameless cold started creeping into her.

Had she ever really thought about her quest in the terms of…after? The need to get back at the murderer of her squadron had kept her going even when she hadn't seen any reason to live, but… Could it be true what he was implying? Was she going to just… keep finding other wrongdoers to take all her hurt out on?

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't even notice him turn around and walk away until he was nearly out of sight between the trees.

"Hey!" she called after him and tried to stand up, only to have pain shoot through her bruised ribs and fall on her knees.

When she looked up again, he was gone.

* * *

_A/N: Sooo, continue? Y/N?_


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: You said you wanted it, folks. Here you go. And I feel like I'm getting the hang of the characters now. There's probably one more chapter to come. At least I haven't planned on anything more at this point._

* * *

Repton leaned against the cliffside, glaring at the crumbling stone ledge beneath his feet. The purple haired Sky Knight across from him narrowed her eyes as she glared at the raptor. They were perched on opposite sides of a shallow ravine, formed by the sudden avalanche that had interrupted the fight and separated them from their respective teams.

She'd lost her weapon, he was injured, and they both were shaking with sheer exhaustion.

The silence stretched, broken only by their ragged breathing, and the last few clatters of falling stones. Finally Repton cocked a browridge at the human. "Are you gonna try something?"

Starling glared at him and kicked a small stone off the ledge she was standing on, and watched as even that pebble sent another small shower of stones rolling down the unstable slope and over the edge of the terra.

"I think I'll stay right here." she bit out dryly.

"Good."

With that, the raptor eased himself down into sitting position, leaning his back against a rocky outcropping and starting to inspect his equipment for damage. At first Starling was surprised at his boldness, but then realized that they couldn't currently do much harm to one another. Even though they were separated only by some ten feet, they were both perched rather precariously on narrow ledges over a canyon filled with jagged rocks, and there was no way to tell how solid the ground was anywhere around them. Any sudden movements were liable to send them both tumbling into the ravine below, not to mention cause another avalanche.

Feeling oddly relieved, she allowed herself to relax enough to give in to her trembling knees and sit down. Though stubborn pride made her perch on a nearby rock, rather than slump down on the ledge she was standing on, to keep herself at least symbolically on higher ground. Repton paused for a mere moment in what he was doing, glancing at her from the corner of is eye and the corner of his mouth tugged upwards.

The Sky Knight crossed her arms and turned away pointedly. She hated how that reptile sometimes seemed to read her every move.

A small grunt caught her attention, and turning around, she saw the raptor picking at a bleeding cut on his arm. She couldn't suppress a wince as she watched him pull a long shard of stone from the wound, sending a fresh trail of blood running down his arm. Repton examined the blood-slick sliver with a look of mild disgust before flicking it away into the ravine below, and then leaning back with a sigh.

Feeling a sudden surge of reckless energy, she spoke up. "Did that hurt?"

The raptor turned to look at her, incredulous, but she simply cocked her head, feigning a keen interest.

"…Yes." he said at length, tentative, testing the waters.

"Good." she nodded, with a tiny smile of triumph.

He blinked in surprise, before chuckling, and surprisingly it wasn't a sharp, hissing sound. It was more like a rolling rumble that seemed to vibrate from his chest rather than his throat. "You truly are a vicious, spiteful thing."

"From you, that must be a compliment."

"Trust me, it is."

Starling rolled her eyes, but somehow the raptor's sudden amiable mood seemed to be contagious, and she found herself relaxing. The silence that settled over them for the next few minutes was almost comfortable. But in the absence of words, she found her mind turning to memories instead. Not surprisingly, she found herself going over the few earlier times when she had been so close to the lizard man on the opposite side of the canyon without actually fighting him. There was something niggling at the back of her mind…

"Hey…"

When Repton turned to look at her, she immediately froze. Stupid, stupid, why had she opened her mouth? But some slightly insane part of her mind pushed on, saying she might as well go for it, now that the raptor seemed for once liable to answer any questions.

"That time… On Terra Prima, when I was captured with their Sky Knights…" she fished for words, trying to think of a way to phrase the question as not a question. But the exhaustion was weighing her mind as heavily as her body by now, and after a moment, she gave up trying to dress up her thoughts into any fancy word games.

"You don't like him. Dark Ace, I mean." she huffed bluntly.

His eyes strayed to the side and his face twisted in a sneer, very much like the one he had worn on the day she was remembering. "Not any of them."

"But you joined them."

He snorted in what sounded like disgust. "Better to ride the storm than be swept away by it." When he noticed her arching an eyebrow, he added: "The Cyclonians were approaching Terra Bogaton. You think they would've just passed us by if we refused their offer? If we hadn't joined them as allies, they would've taken us as slaves. Simple as that."

Repton turned sharply away and glared somewhere to the horizon. "So now we play the part of their hired grunts, while they treat us hardly any better than if we really were just slaves!" He spat down into the ravine to show what he thought about that.

Starling shifted, uncomfortable suddenly. "What about…on Terra Arboreus? That whole rant about killing, where did that come from?"

"That? You just annoyed me. All that talk about justice and vengeance and being so darn righteous about it all. Like you being a Sky Knight justifies anything and everything."

She flinched, stung more than she really wanted to admit. "If someone killed your brothers, you wouldn't stop at anything to avenge them!"

"Damn right I would." The raptor turned to regard the Sky Knight intently. "But I wouldn't go about spouting about how avenging them was my solemn duty or my right. I'd do it, not because the revenge was what either I or the killer deserved, but because I want it, and not make any damned excuses."

Starling floundered, trying to come up with a comeback. The conversation was so not going the way she had thought.

"Who says I wasn't planning to do it just because I wanted it?" she crossed her arms with a huff.

"You didn't. You didn't plan, period. You just reacted."

Repton threw his head back and laughed as the human was reduced to sputtering indignation. Finally the girl gave up trying to make an excuse and turned away, seething and muttering to herself. The lizard man couldn't help but feel a twinge of appreciation for her spirit. Put a few scales on her and she'd almost pass for a raptor woman with a temper that vicious.

"But in all honesty, if there was a single Sky Knight who could see the difference between what they want and what's their right, and have the guts to pursue both, that would have to be you." He offered her surprised face a toothy grin. "That's the one thing I always liked about you."

The stunned face that compliment earned him wasn't quite as amusing as the angry sputtering, but still somehow gratifying. They lapsed into another silence.

"I didn't mean to kill them, for what it's worth."

Starling's head snapped up and she stared at the raptor, not sure if she had heard that correctly. Before she could ask, he continued without turning to look at her:

"Beat them within an inch of their lives and take them for prisoners, sure, but I didn't go into battle that day meaning to kill your squadron. But it was still a battle. They were coming at me with the intent to hurt, so what was I supposed to do? Then that spiky haired one… I never did learn his name – he thought he had blindsided me, but I was quicker than he'd thought."

A painful clench formed somewhere between her heart and her gut. He went on:

"I didn't even realize how deep I had cut, until he hit the ground. And when he did, the other three came at me in rage. Like any fighters who've seen their brother in arms fall. And from then on, all I could do was try and survive, fighting for my life." There was a faint edge of awe and respect in his voice. He turned to look at her, and she was shaken to see the certainty of experience on his face, as he spoke:

"That's the reality of a warrior. Sometimes dying just happens."

The purple haired Sky Knight tried to speak, but her throat closed painfully around the words, letting none escape. Her fists were clenched to the point of pain at her sides, but she barely could feel it. She had to say something. She couldn't let the raptor have the final word in this, but the words flicked back and forth like shadows cast by firelight in her mind, and she couldn't seem to grasp any with a meaning.

Suddenly, he looked up, into the sky. Without thought, she followed his gaze and saw a group of dots that soon grew into the silhouettes of a group of teenagers on their skimmers.

Aerrow came to a stop with a joyous shout, hovering above the ravine, and Radarr dropped a rope ladder down. Gratefully, both her body and mind reeling with exhaustion, she grasped them and hauled herself up to sit behind the younger Sky Knight.

Aerrow glanced down at Repton, who was now standing up, his posture tense. "What should we do about him?"

She glanced down, seeing the raptor watching her. "Let the Cyclonians come and gather what's theirs."

Anyone else would have missed the way the lizard man's jaw clenched at her phrasing, but surprisingly, she felt no joy for that small victory.

"Works for me." the red haired boy nodded and sped away, the rest of his squadron following.


End file.
